How to plan an Enlightened Adventure

"What's an Enlightened Adventure" you might ask? For us its a combination of many things. Immersing yourself in a new culture, trying new things, pushing yourself physically, being open to the world, willing to change and to do as much as possible in the time that you have. We are never looking for the same Instagram photo everyone else has. We seek out our own experiences even if they are found in popular places.

Where do you start?

The first part of planning any trip for us begins with brainstorming ideas. Where are we going? Why there? What adventure do we want to try? What countries should we visit?

We generally like to start with the most complex part first, which for us, is what hike will we do. Hiking may not be a part of your plan, but start with something you would really like to accomplish within your trip. Think about it like a story. You need a beginning, a middle and an end.

For instance, say you have two weeks to travel and want to;

• Drink a Guiness and/or an Irish whiskey in a real Irish pub

• Hike a challenging and beautiful mountain

• Tour London and eat fish and chips

• Relax on beautiful beaches and experience new cuisine

  
  

How can you make all this happen? Looking on the map, we start to imagine a route and how to make all these things possible. A good place to start is to check the major cities and best pricing for direct flights from your location. Spending less on airfare equals more money to travel with! For this trip we've mentioned Ireland, England and our beautiful beaches will be the southwestern coast of Portugal. Dublin is the cheapest flight at the moment so we'll start there. Now we know the basics of our trip, an outline for the story.

Next we need to establish a budget so we can keep things financially friendly. Pricing the places you are going to visit can be helpful for determining the length of stay in each.

Ireland- moderate; lodging, cars and food are reasonable 4 1/2 days

London- expensive 2 1/2 days no need for a car

Portugal- inexpensive; lodging, car and food are cheap (compared to US prices) 7 days

Next we grab the checklist and write the itinerary

Day 1 Fly to Dublin have a fun night in the city

(I always suggest trying to find an overnight flight so you can get some sleep and not arrive like a zombie)

Day 2 Drive to the west coast, stay in Doolin. Visit the Cliffs of Mohr, find live music and dinner in a local Pub. Have that Guiness and a whiskey

Day 3 Take a leisurely drive down the coast stopping in Dingle. Make your way to a BnB in Kilarney, as close as possible the trailhead to Mt Carrauntoohil.

Day 4 Climb Mt Carrauntoohil Take the Devils ladder option

Day 5 Determine how long you want to drive for and make your way back to Dublin. Straight 3.5 hours, 6+hours sightseeing along the eastern coast

Day 6 Fly to London. Take an earlier flight to spend the day exploring after you arrive and eat fish and chips

Day 7 See everything you want to see!

Day 8 Fly to Faro, Portugal. Spend the night in this lovely seacoast town

Day 9 & 10 Drive to Sagres, stay here two nights. Relax, eat, stare at the sea

Day 11 & 12 Drive to Odeceixe Stay here 2 nights. Enjoy the tranquility and relax on the beach. The seafood here is amazing.

Day 13 Drive to Lisbon and spend the night in this fun city

Day 14 Fly home

That's it! We checked off all the boxes on our list!

Enlightened Adventures aims to make the most of the time we have and get the most out of every trip as possible. In the example above, you visited 3 countries, 3 major cities, had 4 beach days. You ate fish and chips in London, drank a Guiness while listening to real Irish music all before climbing the tallest mountain in Ireland, saw the beautiful southern coast of Portugal and probably had a glass of port for good measure. Consider letting us help you get the most out of your next trip. Visit our site and have an Enlightened-Adventure of your own!